huh??? never had one done on the Vibe, its pushing 270,000 miles, goes to our mechanic for regular oil changes etc.

Now that said, my niece was told hers needed to be done by our Mechanic when she had it there for something else. It was torn back so far it would have only cost another 100 bucks to do the belt, opposed to adding all the labor to get to it as second time. It busted, pretty much killed the car.

Louisville KY

Username hidden
(20231 posts)

User Details are only visible to members.

whether it'd ruin the engine or not--i have the new one being installed.

can't wait to see an anticipated improvement in the car's overall performance.

this morning i'm JW why people can't just let go.

Manville NJ

Username hidden
(6794 posts)

User Details are only visible to members.

Timing belts and chains each have their unique "weaknesses" . . . belts age and stretch and with chains the tensioning "shoes" eventually wear out or "stick". Also, whether or not a broken belt/chain will damage your engine has nothing to do with if its an OHC or OHV. The key thing to check is if the engine is an "interference" engine or not. An interference engine is when if the belt breaks the valves WILL impact the pistons and "bad things" then happen . . . a non-interference engine is when even when the belt breaks there is sufficient clearance between a fully depressed valve and a piston at TDC.

Hey NJNY, if you want to mail me your car make/model I'll tell you how worried you need to be :)

Or, GOOGLE.

~froggy

Fort Worth TX

Username hidden
(353 posts)

User Details are only visible to members.

When we bought our Toyota Corolla in 2001 I believe it had a 1 million mile timing chain. It was made of a crazy expensive virtually indestructible alloy and the chain itself added 1,800 to the price of the car, but it should outlive the car itself and never need service. I don't know if they still do that.

Windermere FL

Username hidden
(22637 posts)

User Details are only visible to members.

NJ,

Depending on the design of the engine, timing belts may or may not ruin your engine if they fail. You will definitely be dead in the water though so it's a good idea to have them replaced at the appropriate maintenance interval. I had a Subaru once with a 60K mile timing belt interval. It went out at 57 K. It was an overhead cam so it didn't ruin the valves or pistons but it went out in Bumfuk Eastern Washington on a hot day.

Wenatchee WA

Username hidden
(476 posts)

User Details are only visible to members.

Agreed NJ - I miss my old VW Bugs. I fixed everything on them myself with the help of my trusty Chilton Manual and the VW Graveyard/Junkyard that was in the area. Even replaced the fuel tank. Now, you can't even figure out what's wrong without taking the car apart.

My mechanic finally managed to get to work on my car. I was right, it was the fuel pump. He has to take half the car apart to get to it PLUS it's such a bullshit complex piece on my particular make and model that the fix isn't coming cheap.

I may just have to do a little of that Yankee Trading Tigg was talking about after all.

~rabbit~

New Orleans LA

Username hidden
(2094 posts)

User Details are only visible to members.

apparently the previous owner ascribed to the prolonged periods between oil changes. carfax doesn't include service records. at 100k, it would normally "need" a new timing belt anyways.

so yeah, oil change, tranny oil service, timing belt, new water pump (since they'll be all the waay back there anyway), power steering hose, buncha other belts (don't remember whatall) and so on. basically, my car should run a whole heckuva lot better when i get it back next week. almost new.

i remember fondly the old timing chains we could adjust with timing "guns" and sparks, points, and pins we could change ourselves without having to take the wholedangedengine apart to get to all that stuff. last water pump i changed myself was a long time ago before they started making cars nearly impossible to work on ourselves without serious tools and garage lifts.